VTIFF Presents: This Is Our Land (Chez nous)
Host sponsor – Main Street Landing
Directed by Lucas Belvaux
France/Belgium | 2017 | Fiction | 114 min | French w/English subtitles
A working-class single mother in the North of France naively agrees to run for mayor, representing the Patriotic Bloc. A drama that seeks to analyze the dangerous appeal of reactionary populism, This Is Our Land has attracted ire from the French far-right FN (Front National), which regards it as a slur on the party and its leader Marine Le Pen. Despite its provocative politics, the film is at heart a character study that’s near-Hitchcockian in its portrayal of an innocent, average woman (an attractive blond, no less) who gets caught up in a risky situation beyond her control and comprehension. The film’s key premise is that perfectly decent, compassionate people can all too easily – almost without realizing – fall under the spell of racist paranoia. With Catherine Jacob as the blonde-bobbed leader who never met an angry crowd she couldn’t make angrier.
“A strong film about nationalism, politics, immigration and the changes faced by low income small towns in France and elsewhere. I went along for the ride and was rewarded with an ending that I did not expect.” ~ Julia Swift, VTIFF Programming Committee.